Tuesday Talk -- UN Special Adviser on Sport for Peace and Development

(ATR) The UN’s special adviser on sport for peace and development tells Around the Ringsthe Olympics and FIFA World Cup can play key roles in advancing the dual causes with which he is charged.

Wilfried Lemke spoke to ATRin between trips to Brazil and Beijing about the role of the Olympic Movement in advancing Millennium Development Goals as well as how to ensure host countries benefit from – and are not burdened by – such large-scale sports events.

Around the Rings: What do you and the UN look for from hosts of the Olympics, FIFA World Cup and other major sporting events as far as the promotion of peace and development?

Wilfried Lemke: We mainly look at two components. First, we look at how to use big sporting events to foster or to promote peace and development goals. Second, we look at internationally recognized human rights standards and principles and ensure they are respected throughout the preparation and during the competitions.

Certainly, we are also looking for sustainability and legacy. We try to learn how [hosts] use the major sporting events, especially the World Cups and Olympics, for the maximum integration of social, economic, environmental and health considerations.

ATR: Brazil will stage the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016. Both events are promoted as a chance to transform the country and to improve the way of life. You were there recently. Have you seen adequate progress toward these goals? Frankly, do you think these goals are attainable?

WL: Yes, this is a difficult task, but I’ll give you some examples.

One example is the very challenging traffic situation in the city of Rio. Given the mountainous area and all the difficulties which come with it, the various stakeholders are working very hard to solve the issue of public transportation. Public transportation already exists but has not been that well developed in the past. So the Brazilian and Rio Governments will invest a lot in this field and they showed us that they are on the right track.

Such an investment is indeed sustainable since it improves life for all the inhabitants of this huge city. It will make the lives of millions of people, in particular commuters, easier because the new system will provide for shorter transfers and transaction times.

Then of course they are tackling the problems of crime and violence that have existed in some favelas, step by step. As I told you, I visited several favelas, as well as an urban social housing complex for persons who had lived in favelas before they relocated there, and this went very well in that case. Especially with regard to the major infrastructure developments, if they continue with a fair, transparent and socially and environmentally sensitive relocation process, it would a very positive sustainability legacy of the Olympics.

ATR: I guess that would be your message to all organizing countries and cities of the Olympics and FIFA World Cup is that there must be sustainability?

WL:Yes, one of the most important objectives of UN actions is to make things sustainable. Unfortunately there are too many projects, programmes and initiatives around the world that are not sustainable, not least because they depend on one-off investments and few actors. This is always something that the UN seeks to ensure: that if we have these large-scale events or projects, we need to ensure a sustainable approach for the people.

ATR: Have you been to any of the other upcoming Olympic host cities? London or Sochi or PyeongChang?

WL: Of course I have been to London several times, and I am totally convinced that the British organization and the British government will ensure a fantastic event. They may see it as a challenge to set the bar higher since Beijing organized a remarkable event. Secondly, I was in Sochi one year ago, and Dmitry Chernyshenko showed me the different Olympic sites. I was very much impressed to see how advanced they are in their preparations.

The issue of housing also exists here, and they showed me how they solve this problem. The Olympic Village and all the other projects that I saw looked excellent, and the people seem to be satisfied. There is also the question of security, but I feel the local organizing committee prepares the Games very well.

ATR: Besides your permanent observer, do you think there could somehow be a closer relationship between the UN and the IOC?

WL: First of all, I can say that we are very pleased about the IOC’s observer status at the UN General Assembly. As you may know, we had a UN-IOC conference in spring in Geneva, where [UN Secretary-General] Ban Ki-moon again met [IOC President] Jacques Rogge, and that was a success. The Secretary-General invited Jacques Rogge to follow him on a mission to Africa for an official visit in which the IOC could show the Secretary-General some of their projects. I think the relationship between the UN and the IOC has never before been as good as it is right now, and we are very pleased about this.

ATR: When they bid for these large-scale sporting events, developing countries say they will help them to develop and to become more in line with human rights standards, but that’s not the same for, say, Great Britain or South Korea. Do youthink that the developed countries have a different responsibility to use the Games and promote peace and development worldwide than, say, Brazil or South Africa does?

WL: Apart from the fact that human rights are universal, this question is not so easy to answer because in each country we have a different situation and different needs. For example, in South Africa the FIFA World Cup was not only very vital for the economy, but it was also very important for nation-building. Before I went to South Africa for the very first time, I didn’t know that the country has 12 different official languages. There are many ethnic groups in the country, so it is a huge task to bring all those people together. And as it has happened before, sport still has the power to bring all these people together peacefully, not only in South Africa.

If you look from a different point of view, the challenges that Qatar faces for the World Cup in 2022 are completely different. For them it is also about bringing football on the map. Never has something like that taken place in the country and this is positive. I don’t want to discuss the technical issues of the bid because this is not my mandate. This has to be done by FIFA, but I think it is excellent if we can bring large sporting events not only to the industrialized Western countries but also to other regions and developing countries.

ATR: One year after the South African World Cup, there were reports that maybe the country did not fully utilize the event for the social change it wanted. If you look at Greece where many blame the current debt crisis on the 2004 Olympics, that seems to be a continual theme with these events. They seem to cost more than people thought, and the results don’t always seem to be visible. Should we rethink the ability of the Olympics and the World Cup to promote development and promote peace and unity?

WL: No, I think that would be the wrong conclusion. It would be perhaps be helpful to say that hosts should not always think that bigger is better and spend more money to make things more spectacular. I think it would be very wise if we came back to the roots and say it doesn’t need to be 70 or 80,000 people that the stadiums must seat, but to promote Olympism, the Olympic values and a development and peace legacy. And sometimes I see different opening ceremonies that are maybe less spectacular but have the same strong message. I hope that the London opening ceremony will be completely different [from Beijing], and I hope they try make it their way.

ATR: What does Secretary General Moon see as sport’s role in promoting peace?

WL: First of all he provides overall guidance to the entire Sport for Development and Peace movement as well as to me. He has shown a strong commitment to the field and has made appearances at the Olympic Congress in Copenhagen in 2009, the first time a UN Secretary-General ever did so.

He also attended the opening of the FIFA World Cup in Johannesburg and was at the Second International Forum on Sport, Peace and Development earlier this year in Geneva.

In my function, I enjoy a lot of freedom and trust, but I naturally do report to the Secretary-General on a regular basis. Four or six times per year I meet the Secretary-General to report on my work and findings. In particular, I report about the sport for development and peace issues and valuable projects that I encounter in the communities on the ground during my official travels, obviously something that he cannot see too often himself as he is most of the times too busy when he visits a country.

ATR: I bet he is. The Winter Olympics will head to his home country in 2018. With the Games going to South Korea, do you think he will put a greater emphasis on the Olympics as a result?

WL: No. Although I’m quite sure that he personally is happy about this result, during all the time he, as well as I, stayed neutral in this and other bid processes.

ATR: How successful do you think the UN and you have been in your mission to promote the Millennium Development Goals over the past few years?

WL: First of all, my mandate is to facilitate partnerships, advocate for the concept of Sport for Development and Peace and to represent the UN at global sports events and in the world of sport.

Also, I have set five specific work plan priorities. The first one is a regional priority, namely Africa. The second is to foster youth and young leaders and to help them become accessible role models in their neighbourhoods, such as slums, townships and refugee camps. My third priority is gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in and through sport. Fourth, I try to promote sport for persons with disabilities, and fifth I try to use sport as a tool for mutual understanding and respect in the Middle East conflict. So these are my five work priorities.

The achievement of the Millennium Development Goals is of course one of the overarching priorities for all of us. In my function as advocate and facilitator in particular, I hope that through the work we do, we can show that sport can contribute effectively to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, as it has already done so in the many sport for development programmes undertaken by the UN agencies worldwide.

Interview conducted by Edward Hula III.

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